Bounty Hunter's Gambit
by cdog1917
Summary: Cad Bane is sent to Kamino to destroy the cloning vats, but rather by sheer chance or fate, Taran is there as well. Forced to disguise himself as a clone, Bane plots to get the element of surprise on him and ultimately kill him.
1. Bane POV

_Here I was in my starship, my eyes on the small planet of Kamino. This was the main production of clone troopers for the accursed Republic Army. It made me sick to think about that crumbling organization. We bounty hunters had despised the Republic ever since those meddling Jedi track us down and throw us away, not even caring about the 'honest' job we were doing. Our jobs made crime organizations easier to handle, as they eliminated the opposition, so in a way we were the janitors of the galaxy, getting rid of the filth. But of course, not everyone could see that._

_Before this war started, I was the second best bounty hunter in the galaxy. Jango was the best, but he was taken care of on Geonosis by no other than those damned Jedi Knights. I had to fill in the void so that there wasn't any power struggle and the bounty hunters would start killing themselves to fill it in. It was easy for one bounty hunter to turn on the other in the blink of an eye. If I hadn't done it, we'd be extinct and be no more than a mere legend and had to be reborn again later on, like the Sith Lords._

_Sith Lords. Why do I even bother with them? They're just as meddlesome as the Jedi. Only difference is they like what corruption, fear, and anarchy does to the galaxy. If I'm not too sure, I suspect they'll have an even stricter rule than the Jedi ever had, and possibly more deadly for guys like us._

_For now I work for credits, like many of my kind. I fall under the category of normal bounty hunter, for now. There are some who do this job just to savor the thought of capturing, or killing. These extremists are what give us a bad name. Most bounty hunters capture their prey live, which usually means more credits, but these guys don't care. All they want to do is to cause pain to anyone they see._

_I've never killed just for the pleasure, well most of the time. When I do kill for the pleasure, it's on people who infuriate me the most, like Skywalker and his little Togruta padawan. I'll kill them slow, just to savor their agonizing death. Even more so would be Cyneran. I would savor his with mouthwatering delight. I wish had seen when the Count was torturing him. How I would looked on with satisfied eyes._

_I hate him with so much rage and fury because he was the only one of my prey who ever got away, and he was just a brat! When word got out that I had failed to kill him, I became the laughing stock of the galaxy. It's one thing when your quarry gets away and he/she's a grown individual, but it was hilarious when it was actually a baby that slipped out of the hands of the most notorious bounty hunter in the galaxy. Unfortunately, I didn't soot to well with the joke, and I left a lot of people pushing up daises or whatever slimeball planet they came from._

_I hated Cyneran like a disease. I tried many a time to kill him, but they never worked. He always alluded my grasp, but not for much longer. He is a slipper opponent, and he's caught me off guard many a time. But once he is in my grasp, he will feel my fists squeeze the life out of his body, and he will remember who his real enemy is._

_It should have ended their on his stinking home planet, but fate must have intervened that day. Fate is never kind because you never know if you fully realize yourself when your life comes down._

"Bounty hunter, are you orbiting the system?" said the holographic image of none other than Count Dooku, leader of the Confederate Independent Systems, or CIS.

"Yes, the planet is in my sights Count. How long until you want me to disrupt their little clone production?" said Bane.

"In due time, for now lay low on the system. If the trap is sprung too early, everything will go wrong. Our elite droid forces will be there in a few days. I will contact you when they come. Once that is done, destroy as many of those cloning vats as possible," said Dooku.

"Yes Count, and I believe the job is 35000 credits," said Bane.

"You'll get your money when you have done the job," said Dooku. The hologram faded out and Bane pulled his starfighter into a dive towards the planet. Switching on his cloaking device he slipped past the sensors unnoticed.

Kamino's endless rain pounded on his starship, the raindrops playing a symphony of drops onto ship. Bane paid it no mind and continued his flight to one of the main platforms jutting out of the endless sea. Picking the biggest collection, the words Tipoca City on his map, he landed his ship on the pole connected to the structure, getting his magnetic field to hook to it with no problem.

_"That was easy, now to get inside,"_he thought. Using his jet boots to soar towards the door on top of the spire, he snuck into the city undetected, but he had no idea, whether by coincidence or fate, who was already there.


	2. Check Ups

The clones from the 201st and the 501st had just been assigned their new armor on Kamino, this time with every member. However, one particular clone captain wasn't buying it.

"For the last time kid, I'm not putting it on," said Captain Rex.

"Come on Rex, it's more comfortable, more reliable, and it can take more fire than the Phase I armor, and it's painted to 501st standards," said a tan-skinned Jedi with dreadlocks, Earth Kingdom tattoos on his hands, and clone armor on his shins and forearms.

"No rookie, I want to keep my own armor," said Rex.

"Rex, Gunny did it, Ripcord did it, Cody's been done it, what are you trying to prove?" said Taran.

"That I don't need new armor to live and fight," said Rex.

"Remember what happened the last time your armor failed you?" said Taran.

"It was sniper, anyone could have been shot like that," said Rex.

"Are you sure you don't want it?" said Taran.

"Positive," said Rex.

"Well okay then Alpha-17," said Taran. Rex chuckled, a rare thing with him.

"Okay then kid, whatever you say," said Rex. He put back on his standard helmet and walked with Taran down the hall to inspect the other troops. When they entered the room, they saw Torrent Squadron in there new Phase II armor. (For all you who don't know what the Phase II armor is, it's what all the clones wear in Episode III and in Star Wars Battlefront II. The 501st armor for regular clone soldiers is the regular blue-etched clone armor in Battlefront II).

They looked truly fierce in their new, shiny armor, ready to be battle-tested again in combat. The new armor made them look impressive, and scary. Taran wondered that with this fearsome, soulless look they would scare the droids back into their programming. Their blue etched-markings denoted their legion's colors instead of just the normal, all-white armor. Only Rex was the in the same armor as always.

"They look really awesome Rex, and scary," said Taran.

"Thanks kid," said Rex.

"Where's Cody unit at?" said Taran.

"At the southwest corridor," said Rex. Taran saluted him and went out of the room into the hall. Along the way he spotted the native Kaminoans, tall, graceful grey and white aliens who at a first glance looked like they would never harm so much as a fly, yet their notoriety for producing the infamous saber darts made many people think twice when they saw them. One Kaminoan came right up to him.

"Hello Jedi padawan, I'm Taun We. Your master sent for me to tell you that the army is to leave in twenty-four hour time," she said.

"Thank you Taun We. Anything else?" said Taran.

"No, that is all. I must be going back to my duties," said Taun We. She walked down the hall at the same time Taran was going in the opposite direction.

_"Fine people Kaminoans. Graceful and serene, yet lacking any real emotion. Strange,"_thought Taran. He had heard what the clones always said about the Kaminoans being devoid of emotions, especially when they were being brought up. They treated the majority of them like a collection rather than an individual, which was why it was kind of hard to tell which clone was which at the beginning of the war.

As he walked past a dark corridor of a hallway, hands grabbed around his waist and pulled him into the shadows. Startled, Taran went for his lightsaber, but saw who it was just in time.

"You know you could tell me before you do that," he said, seeing his girlfriend.

"Where would be the fun in that?" said Ahsoka. She pulled him in and kissed him, reveling in the touch of his lips meeting hers. Her arms wrapped around his neck while his wrapped around her waist. They could have stayed like this forever, but they knew they couldn't.

"What's Skyguy doing?" said Taran when they had ended.

"Either walking around, fixing his starfighter, checking the boys, or doing something," said Ahsoka.

"Where were you going?" said Taran.

"I was going off to see Rex, but then I felt you coming so I waited," she said.

"You're pretty good when it comes to sneaking up on me," said Taran.

"It's not that hard," she said slyly.

"When do you think it's a good time to tell Obi-Wan?" said Taran. He had asked her this before at times to see when she was ready, but she always said "Not yet." If the time was right, and Obi-Wan was in a good mood, then everything would be fine. Besides, how mad could he get?

"I don't know. With Anakin it's different, but Obi-Wan is another story," said Ahsoka.

"True, but still it would be nice to try," said Taran. A sign of contempt washed over Ahsoka's face.

"We'll tell him together when the time comes," she said. Taran smiled and kissed her again. They heard approaching footsteps and ended their kiss, not wanting to leave, but knowing they had to.

"I'll see you later then," said Taran.

"Sure, I'll just find a very dark hallway," said Ahsoka.

* * *

Taran walked into the room where the 212th Attack Battalion was resting and putting on their new armor. Cody looked especially fierce in his. His armor was painted orange in some new areas, with two grey ones down the sides of his helmet. A small tool kit was on his upper arm piece, his oval jetpack was smaller than the last, only one antennae was on his shoulder, and a few markings on his left breastplate that Taran had never seen before, but looked like an advanced version of the Republic symbols.

"Woh Cody, looking like a trained killer," said Taran.

"Thanks sir, I try my best," said Cody. Taran picked out Boil and Waxer and saw their armor looked just like the other troopers, if not just like Cody's paint design, with the designs of from their old armor still on there. They also sported kamas, which are like skirts that open at the inner leg area. It struck Taran as odd because the kama signified high rank, but then remembered they had been promoted to lieutenant and were head of their own squads now.

"Can't believe they were promoted at the same time," said Taran.

"Well, they deserved it after that mess on Jabiim," said Cody. Taran nodded.

"Do you know where Obi-Wan is?" said Taran.

"No, sorry sir. He might be down by the cloning vats though," said Cody.

"Thanks, I'll try there," said Taran. He left the room and went down the hall looking for his master. Passing Kaminoans and clones he searched throughout the cloning vats. The vats each contained an embryo of a growing clone that would one day fight in the Republic army. Taran knew that each clone had accelerated aging, meaning they could reach the age of twenty in ten years. As he looked on he saw ten year olds reading battle plans on their mini-computers. It was weird how they all looked exactly the same, but Taran knew they wouldn't be acting the same.

Moving on through he saw a batch of clones doing target practice. They looked about eighteen, which meant that they would be entering the war in one year. He saw them take out all kinds of holographic droids, from battle droids and SBD's to the crab droids. He saw one of them run up to it while the others took it's attention. The clone jumped on it and fired into it's brain, making it sputter and kill the droid.

_"Just bred to kill,"_thought Taran. Walking, but still looking at the clones, he nearly ran into the person he was looking for.

"Taran, watch it," said Obi-Wan having to stop Taran before he hit him.

"Sorry master, just needed to know where you were," said Taran.

"Well I hope you don't find people by running into them," said Obi-Wan.

"Master, so far the troops have put on their new armor and we have resupplied the ranks," said Taran.

"Good, after Jabiim we needed more soldiers. Do you know where Anakin is?" said Obi-Wan.

"No, but my guess is he's in the hangar," said Taran.

"Okay then, carry on with your duties," said Obi-Wan. Taran bowed and went back down the hall he came.

* * *

Bane was slinking around the dark hallways on Kamino, looking for an unmolested way to the cloning vats. It had been one day since he arrived, and he had already signaled the Count. He said they would be there in twenty hours. But first he needed a way to chart where the main cloning vats were and to create a distraction in time for the elite droid force to get there.

As he was walking he heard footsteps coming. He laid low in a corner that completely concealed him from view. A squad of clones came by, not even noticing him there.

"Clones, too easy," he said to himself. He resumed back to his slinking ways, always making sure that no one saw or heard him. However, in a city full of Kaminoans, clones, and four Jedi, he needed a way to blend in without no one noticing. Then, a brilliant plan came into his sick, twisted mind. He took off a panel from the wall and went into the opening, pooping the lid back on. Now all he needed to do was wait.

* * *

Meanwhile, Taran had made his way to the hangar. Sure enough, there was Anakin with his Eta-2, painted with a nice yellow design. Taran had asked him why he had painted it that color and he said it was to honor the Podracer that helped him get off his planet into the Jedi Order. Taran thought it was a nice thing to do.

Not wanting to bother him he went back into the city, wanting to see how R3 was. It didn't take him long to see the little green astromech droid rolling down the hallway towards him, carrying a blue letter in his robotic arm appendage.

"Weird, wonder what this is for?" said Taran. He patted the droid on the head, who whistled happily, and opened it.

"Come back to your quarters," it said. Taran automatically knew that it was Ahsoka's handwriting. "What was she up to?" he thought. She was always a mystery to him, a surprise in store for him happening nearly all the time. Whatever it was it was probably good. Smiling he burned the letter and threw the ashes outside and started walking back to his quarters. As he walked down a hallway he felt something strange. It seemed like the walls resonated with a familiar, and malicious presence. He looked to the wall, but there was no one there.

_"Weird,"_ he thought. Not wasting any time he waled down the hallway towards his quarters.

* * *

I didn't know who it was that walked and looked at the part of the wall i was in, but I could have sworn it was Cyneran. That meddlesome little boy will one day fall before my onslaught. but never mind that, I hear someone else come.

Sure enough, it's a lone clone soldier walking by, not even noticing where I am. Time to spring the trap.

I kick open the panel, making him drop the gun. Once out of ihis hands and he is on the ground I take his head and twist it to the side, relishing the sound of hearing his neck break. Knowing that he's dead I began to strip off his armor. Once it was off I place it all back on me. This new armor seemed a lot better than the one I wore to get past Skywalker and his padawan after I had taken the holocron. It was more roomy and felt better than that body bucket.

Putting his blaster onto my belt I take his body and find the nearest outside platform. The rain poured on me, sending the sound of dropping rain all over my armor. I heaved the dead clone over the side to the sea, the sea being so far down I couldn't even hear the splash that followed when the body dropped to the surface.

I turned back to the doors from which I came from, ready to do what needed to be done. This time, no one will stop me.


	3. Disguise

Taran walked to his room and came there. Using the Force he sensed that someone was in there. Knowing who it was he opened it and came in. To his surprise, he saw no one in the room, neither on the bed nor near any furniture.

"I know you're in here," he said. He went to the closet and opened it, but still no Ahsoka. He looked under the bed, and still no Ahsoka. This was very weird. He could feel her presence in the room, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Taran got on his bed and laid down, his eyes closed shut in thought. When he opened them and looked up, a red-orange figure fell from the ceiling and landed on top of him. Falling on him he felt pain before he felt the soft, sweet lips of her.

"Do you always have to do that?" said Taran when they had ended.

"It's just my way of having fun with you," said Ahsoka. She kissed him again, her hands to her neck while hers found her back. It was great the way he and her connected when they were bonded like this in each other's arms. Ahsoka's hand traveled to his chest, massaging his still growing pecs. His hand traveled to the small of her back, tickling her. His kiss went from her lips to her neck, kissing the sensitive skin. She moaned into his shoulder, feeling him attack her neck. Her hand rubbed his back as he continued his assault.

He pushed so that now they were sitting, her hips on top of his. His kisses went down her neck to her collarbone, having her massage his shoulder blades under his felt so warm and soft. She placed a fleeting kiss on his neck as he continued. He traveled back up and kissed her back on the lips. He would have done more if his comlink hadn't went off.

"Taran, come down to the hangar, over," said Obi-Wan. Taran and Ahsoka groaned. It seemed like they could never finish what they started.

"Copy master," said Taran.

"Time to go?" said Ahsoka.

"Unfortunately, yes," said Taran. They gave each other one more quick kiss before they left to wherever they needed to go.

* * *

"You need me master?" said Taran, though the hint in his voice meant he was very annoyed at the moment.

"Yes, many of landing craft were sabotaged," said Obi-Wan, pointing to a dozen wrecks at the far end of the hangar. Kaminoans and clones were working together to put out the fires, and wounded clones were escorted to

"By who?"

"We don't know yet. Who ever it was has successfully infiltrated the city and is now working his way towards his or her goal," said Obi-Wan.

"But what are they after?" said Taran.

"I don't know, maybe a number of reasons," said Obi-Wan. "They may be trying to find out information to our most top secret plans, or worse."

"What could be worse?" said Taran.

"They might be trying to destroy the cloning vats," said Obi-Wan. "We can only fear the worse."

"What do you need me to do?" said Taran.

"Patrol the corridors. Make sure you report anything that's suspicious to me or Anakin, and be careful. This person may be more dangerous than we think," said Obi-Wan.

"On it master," said Taran. Taran headed off to the corridors, taking in everything he saw.

* * *

I had just taken out the majority of their landing craft. This would have them searching around the hangars more and leave the cloning vats unguarded, but not for long. This should take me enough time to shut off the planetary sensors for the troops to get here. All I have to do is get to the central network near the heart of the city, but I must maneuver carefully and blend in. After all, I'm posing as a soldier boy now.

At that moment I heard footsteps, so I snapped to attention and waited for whoever it was to pass.

* * *

Taran walked by a lone trooper in the colors of the 212th.

"Trooper, check these corridors for any sign of the intruder," said Taran.

"Yes sir," the clone, but his response was gruff and more heavy than a regular clone. Somehow that didn't sit too well with Taran.

"Trooper, is there something wrong with your voice?" said Taran.

"Yes, a little bit of a sore throat," said the trooper. Something was up. He had heard clones have sore throats before, and this sounded nothing like it. Also, something was amiss with this clone. He seemed to have an ill will and unsavory disposition. But now wasn't the time to be asking too many questions. It took him a good minute to finally say something.

"Carry on," said Taran, though he glanced back at the trooper while he was walking away.

"That was weird. It's trange, but i thought I may have felt the presence of Bane?" he thought to himself. But that couldn't be. Bane was probably halfway across the galaxy making money on his constant bounty missions and creating havoc. There was no way he could have gotten on here.

The 'clone' that Taran had run into took off his helmet for a minute once Taran was out of site, his red eyes cringing and yellow teeth bared in a sneer in the direction Taran had went.

_"So Cyneran is here. How I wish to wrap my hands around his neck and throttle him, watching the life leave him,"_ he thought with much anger and fury. This was only going to make things harder for him, especially if that meant he already suspected something.

_"I have to watch my back more closely. I've come to far to let this operation fail now. Cyneran better pray he's not alone again,"_ he thought. He out the helmet back on and made his way to the communications center, careful to make sure he walked the clones.

* * *

Taran checked around nearly every part of the city. There was nothing but clones and Kaminoans, and him, Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka. Nothing was out of place, no signs of anything out of the ordinary. Whoever the intruder was, he or she was good at their job. As he pondered this, his thoughts traveled back to the clone he met in the hallway.

_"That clone seemed too unsavory to me. He was giving off a strong aura of darkness that I haven't felt in a awhile,"_he thought to himself. Taran decided that he better go and find him again. But this was going to be a little hard. In case he hadn't noticed, trying to find a single clone in the main cloning production place in the galaxy was like trying to search for an asteroid that had no holes in it. Either way, it's extremely difficult to do that.

_"How am I going to find him. I'd better check in with Anakin first,"_ he thought.

* * *

Bane reached the main communication center. The place was packed with Kaminoans and intelligence clones. Every single one of them was busy with new information coming from all sectors of the galaxy. Hopefully, none of them would mind him walking to a computer and 'check' a few things.

Snagging a computer he hacked into the sensory database. Finding the primary sensors he relayed them to shut off in a few minutes at different times, so as to not draw attention to them all shutting down at once. Then he targeted the secondary sensors. He placed a disk in that planted a virus on the sensor tracers. The virus allowed the Republic forces to think that the sensors were still on when in actuality they were not. This would catch them all by surprise and allow him and the droids to get to the cloning vats and destroy them all.

His job done, all he had to do now was wait and see what would happen. He got off the computer and made his way back to the hall, unnoticed by the Kaminoans and clones.

* * *

On his way to find Anakin, Taran ran into Commander Cody.

"Cody, there's something I need your help with," said Taran.

"Besides the intruder sir?" said Cody.

"Actually, this is about him, or her. You have all the names and ranks of men in your unit right?" said Taran.

"Yes sir," said Cody.

"Get all your men to a room, I need to interview them very quickly," said Taran.

"Sir yes sir," said Cody. Cody called on his comlink for all the men of his company to come to the designated room, while Taran waited inside for them to come. Little did he know, he was close to zeroing in on the culprit.

* * *

Bane was walking down a crowded hall when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see a clone in armor that seemed older than his own with an ARC pauldron, kama, and blue markings.

"Soldier, Commander Cody wants all of the 212th to come to the room at sector 5," said Rex. Bane's first instinct was to blow his cover and start shooting at everything, but the droid forces were only one hour away. Besides, if he was a clone, he had to make sure he blended in. Apparently, this soldier was telling him that 'his' battalion was meeting. He decided that he would go along with it.

"Yes sir," said Bane.

"Soldier, your voice okay?" said Rex.

"Yes, just a sore throat. It'll pass," said Bane. He pushed past Rex and headed to sector 5.

* * *

As all the clones passed in, Taran homed in his sense on all that came in. So far none of the men who walked in seemed untrustworthy or having a dark purpose. Most of these men he had fought beside countless times before, him helping them, and them helping him. He saved quite a few from a life or death situation. Once all the clones were in, he and Cody started.

"Men, there has recently been an infiltrator who had been able to get into our city. For reasons we don't know, he has blended into the city in the guise of a soldier. Commander Taran here has reason to be believe that it is one of you," said Cody. The men in the room tense. Taran detected a flicker of fear in some of them.

"I'm going to ask anyone who was out in the corridors to stay in here," said Taran. At that the majority of the men left the room. Homing his senses, Taran knew they were the truthful ones. There were four clones left in the room. Taran walked in front of everyone of them. His senses on the first three showed they were afraid because he might mistake them for the culprit. As he passed the fourth, he felt the same dark presence he had felt before.

"You three can go. Cody, get your gun ready," said Taran. Cody's DC-15 snapped into his hands.

"Trooper, what's your name?" said Taran. Bane had to think hard about this one, so he gave a guess.

"Kicks, sir," said Bane. Cody, is there a trooper named Kicks in the battalion?" said Taran.

"Checking the list now," said Cody. The scan took less than five seconds.

"Yes, sir, there is a Kicks on the regiment roster," said Cody. Bane sighed, but not too deeply. This had probably saved him some more time.

"Trooper, where were you headed before we called you up here?" said Taran.

"I was headed to the docking yards," said Bane.

"To do what?" said Taran.

"To check on the fuel tanks to be ready to go when the fleet leaves," said Bane. Taran looked at him for a long minute.

"Okay. You're good to go," said Taran.

"Thanks sir, I'll just be headed back to the cloning vats," said Bane, rising out of the chair. However, he didn't notice that he had just made a grave mistake, which Taran and Cody had picked up.

"Wait!" they ordered. He stopped at the entrance to the door.

"First you said you were going to the docking yards, then you said you were going to cloning vats," said Taran.

"I meant to say cloning vats," said Bane, but Taran could sense the lie coming from his body.

"Exactly who is your squadmates?" said Taran.

"What?"

"You heard him, he asked who your squadmates were," said Cody, his blaster ready. Bane thought hard.

"You must have me mistaken for.

"WHO IS YOUR SQUADMATES, INFILTRATOR!" yelled Taran. His lightsaber was on now, and he was holding it ready to attack. Bane knew it was now or never. Silently, he turned on two thermal dets in one hand. He turned around and took his helmet off, revealing himself.

"Here they are Cyneran!" he yelled. He threw them straight at Cody.

"Cody get down!" said Taran.


	4. Chasing a Bounty Hunter

The thermal detonators went off, the room filling with smoke and fire. Bane grinned and left in a hurry towards the cloning vats. Little did he know was that Taran had pushed Cody out of the way and formed a protective barrier of ice around them to shield them form the blast. Thankfully it was strong enough to repel the twin blasts and save their lives.

"You okay Cody?" said Taran.

"Fine sir," said Cody. Taran and him leapt up and gave chase towards Bane.

"Master, we've found the culprit; it's Bane," he said into his comlink.

"Bane! What in blazes is he doing here?" said Obi-Wan.

"I don't know, but he may be trying to sabotage the cloning vats," said Taran.

"I'll get all units ready to intercept him. Taran, keep chase, and be careful," said Obi-Wan.

"Will do," said Taran, turning off the comlink. He and Cody ran, hot on Bane's trail. They could see his blue head up ahead, trying as fast as he could to get away. But Taran and Cody were gaining, and they were only a few more yards away to getting him.

* * *

(Taran POV)

Why does this bounty hunter always have to follow ME around! Nearly everywhere I go he's looking for me. Talk about being someone's favorite. You think that trying to kill me once is enough, but twelve is just plain wrong. Does this bounty hunter have an addiction, 'cause I normally don't attract people like this.

Why can't he leave me alone? Everytime I see him, it's like I'm watching my parent's murder all over again. This time, the white fury of that memory has me wanting to kill him in cold blood, ice cold blood. I've never felt this kind of anger towards no one else, not even Dooku, Ventress, or Grievous. I don't want to have to kill him unless I have no other choice, but a part of me is telling me to kill him outright the first chance I get. I'm a Jedi, I shouldn't be feeling this way. I should only kill in self-defence, not anger and hatred. But seeing Bane again makes my blood boil with nothing but satisfaction in seeing him pay for his crimes, no matter how numerous they were.

I thought I had gotten over my anger for him that almost got me killed, but all it did was burrow deep into my mind so that I wasn't showing it physically, but mentally. It was like thinking you had killed a disease, but it only comes in a more deadlier form. If I couldn't get rid of it, it would take root and form. It's seeds were already spread, and if they sprouted, I'm going to do something that I will regret later in my life.

Ahsoka always tried to get me past this problem, but it only worked when I was around her. When I wasn't around her, it would come back as if it had never left. This feeling is dark, revenge starved, terrible, and deadly. When I'm around Bane, or in this instance chasing after him, I'm not myself. I want to do nothing but harm him the way he harmed me. The side of me that is my light is telling me not to, it's not right. But at this moment, all I can think about is catching, and maybe doing worse than that.

* * *

I was tailing Bane now. For what purpose he was here, I don't exactly know, but I'm going to find out.

Bane went to his comlink and pressed a button.

"This should slow them down," he said. The button was to close the doors up ahead. Bane could run throguh there easily, but it would shut Taran and Cody on the other side, giving Bane valuable time. I couldn't let that happen.

"Cody, watch out!" said Taran. Using Airbending to speed him up he ran after Bane and collided into him, sending them sprawling to the ground on the other side. The doors shut, Cody on the other side of the door.

"Be careful sir," he whispered to himself.

On the other side, Taran had gotten up already, lightsaber, and Bane was up now too, his blasters drawn out and ready.

"I see your injuries from Jabiim haven't just affected your body, but your mind as well," said Taran. Bane growled.

"If you think that what I've done was foolish, then guess again Cyneran. Only one of us is coming out of here alive," said Bane.

"Yeah, and I believe that it's me," said Taran. Circling each other is often described as the most tense moment before a duel; it's when the opponents size each other up to see their strengths and weaknesses before they clash.

"Why do you always keep following me? Everywhere I go, you're always right behind me," said Taran, trying his best not to sound angry.

"You humiliated me and made me a laughingstock But once you're dead, everything will go back to normal," said Bane. He fired off his blasters and Taran deflected the shots. Taran lunged and slashed, but Bane rolled to the side. Taran jumped into the air to avoid the lethal laser fire and landed back on the ground to deflect it. Bane fired off like a machine gun, his lethal twin blasters firing off salvos.

Taran ran forward, deflecting and avoiding the blaster fire, and launched a swipe of air at Bane. Bane was hit squarely in the chest and sent into the wall. When his eyes opened, he saw Taran coming straight at him, lightsaber in hand, ready to bring it down on top of his head. He sprang out of the way as a lightsaber came down, leaving a black, super-heated gash in the wall.

Bane's quickness saved his life that time because Taran was fueled up and ready to do some damage. Bane got up, blasters in hand, and looked to see Taran's lightsaber at his throat. He could feel the heat the ozone and plasma the lightsaber was giving off.

Bane saw that Taran looked like he was about to kill him in a millisecond. Taran thought it wouldn't be this quick, but with the bounty hunter at his mercy there was only two things he could do. One side screaming to the other half to do this and do that, Taran didn't know what to do. Should he end the bounty hunter's career, or should he take him prisoner. but then he remembered the last time Bane was taken prisoner, and he got away.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" said Bane. Taran didn't know what to do. He had imagined this happening before, but not in real life. Had this been Dooku, Grievous, or Ventress, he wouldn't hesitate, but Bane was different for some reason. He couldn't bring himself to kill him like this.

"You're coming with me," said Taran. At that moment, a button from Bane started flashing. Bane smiled.

"What is that?" demanded Taran.

"You'll find out now," cackled Bane. Taran felt a sense of danger heading straight for him, and form outside. Homing his senses to that area, he gasped and dived out the way as a dagger-like ship plowed into the wall. Taran turned to see three Magnaguards exit the ship and flare their electrostaffs.

"Keep him..busy," said Bane. He ran towards the cloning vats as the Magnaguards charged Taran.

* * *

All around Tipoca City, Separatist boarding ships plwoed into the walls of the city, unleashing the Separatist's most powerful droids: SBD's, commando droids, Magnaguards, and droidekas. The clones throughout the city were hard pressed as they fought for their lives and their home. But these droids were numerous, and though the clones were more numerous, than were losing more men than the droids.

The Jedi Generals held their ground against the oncoming droids, buying the men time to regroup and fight.

Ahsoka was in the other side of the city, keeping five Magnaguards away from the reactor core of the city. If it blew, they were all dead. She deflected, slashed, attacked, counterattacked, cut, and sliced at the droids coming for her, knocking out two of them. The other three must have been the elite of Grievous's bodyguards, for they were fighting as if they were the droid general themselves. This made things even more difficult.

_"Why is it have to fight the strongest tinnies?"_she thought. The Magnaguards surrounded her and attacked, she having to twist, dodge, and attacked from three sides of her. Luckily, few bolts of blue laser fire hit the Magnaguards over and over again and they fell to the ground in smoking heaps. Ahsoka turned to see Rex, Echo, and Fives with their blasters out, the smoke coming from the barrels meaning they had just fired.

"You all right kid?" said Rex.

"Yes Rex, I'm fine," said Ahsoka, relieved to see Rex. "Where's Taran?"

"Commander Cody said he's tracking down Bane near the cloning vats," said Rex.

"The cloning vats? That means that Bane is probably going to destroy them. Rex, we have to get there now," said Ahsoka.

"Yes sir," said Rex. Ahsoka, Rex, Echo, and Fives rushed off towards the cloning vats, knowing they would have to fight there way there.

In another part of the city, Obi-Wan and Anakin were fighting side-by-side against a swarm of commando droids. Thankfully they had experience with these type of droids and found short easy work in destroying them.

"How did they get in here? Our scanners should have told us if they were coming," said Obi-Wan.

"Bane probably shut them off while we weren't looking and made it seem like they were still on. I've seen the trick before," said Anakin in the midst of cutting a commando droid in half.

"He's probably going after the cloning vats, and these droids are here to keep us occupied," said Obi-Wan.

"Well then what are we waiting for?" said Anakin. He ran towards the cloning vats, cutting down any droids in his past.

"Always on the move," said Obi-Wan.

* * *

The Magnaguards lay in a heap around him, but he wasn't completely unscathed. One had clipped a blow to his shoulder, but it was just a small bruise. Now that his three opponents were no more, he chased after the one he was previously engaged with.

_"That bastard is so dead,"_ he thought. He hewed through any other droids in his path, and blasted a whole hallway full of them out of a window with a large gust of air. Thankfully no clones were in there.

He was coming up to the cloning vats and he could hear explosions going on in there. Bane was destroying the clone embryos. Taran put all his strength into his feet and legs and ran the fastest he could. He got into the room, lightsaber in hand, and saw Bane. The floor was spilled with fluids and the remains of clones that would never reach adulthood. The fate of those doomed clones filled him with white anger as he looked at the creature of the dark that had ended their lives before it began. He saw Bane shoot down another container with an embryo in it, ending the life of another clone. Bane was going to pay, he was going to pay big time, and the guy who was about to do it was either his sheriff, or his new undertaker.

"I'm going to rip you apart!" he yelled.

"Now now Cyneran, that tempers going to get you into a lot of trouble with your Jedi Order," Bane taunted. Even though he hated to admit it, Bane had a point. Taran calmed himself down enough to do the only thing he could do, attack. Bane ducked past the first swing and side-stepped the second one. When Taran swung his lightsaber in an arc that would have split Bane in half, Bane jumped up and kicked Taran directly in his jaw, doing a backflip to land back on his feet. Taran hit the ground when he fell and got back up, but only to see a blaster pointed directly at his chest.

"Cyneran, Cyneran, who's slipping now?" said Bane maliciously. Taran didn't know what to do. His lightsaber was on the ground, off and near Bane's feet, and Bane was quick when it came to pulling a trigger. Years of practice had gave him that terrible gift.

"I've waited so long to do this," said Bane. He pulled the trigger and the laser bolt came out directly twoards Taran, but instead of hitting flesh, it hit a bar of green energy and ricocheted back to Bane's blaster, blasting it out of his hands. Ahsoka stood in front of Taran, her lightsaber at Bane's throat. The other blaster was on the floor in two pieces after she had sliced it in half.

"Ahsoka, where would I be without you?" said Taran.

"Dead," said Ahsoka. Taran summoned his lightsaber back into his hands and held the point at Bane's chest.

"Where's Rex at?" said Taran.

"He, Echo, and Fives are outside taking care of some commando droids," said Ahsoka.

"Good, now where were we Bane? Oh yeah, you were coming with us," said Taran. Bane's hands went up, his mouth turned into a sneer.

"Fine, you got me," he said. At that moment, Bane pressed another button on his wrist. A part of the city blew up, shaking the entire city. It distracted Taran and Ahsoka long enough for Bane to slip away and run for the hangar. Once they realized their mistake, the chased after him.

"Master, where are you at?" said Ahsoka.

"Near the hangar," said Anakin.

"Good, seal the doors up. Bane coming there," said Ahsoka. Taran launched a ball of air at Bane, but the bounty hunter ducked under it and kept running. Ahsoka used the Force to send a piece of the wall at Bane. Bane was caught by it and slammed into the wall, but he shrugged it off like nothing happened and kept running. As he tore down a long hallway, Taran stopped Ahsoka.

"This way. It's a shortcut," he said. They went down another hallway perpendicular to the one Bane was going down. Bane looked back to see that the padawans weren't chasing him anymore.

_"They must have given up,"_ he thought. _"Or, a trap is coming up that they expect me to run into."_He knew it was the second one, so he waited for any trap that would pop up at any moment. As he ran, he saw a puddle of water up ahead. Thinking the water was put there by Taran, he stopped.

"You think you're clever enough to outsmart me boy?" said Bane, thinking Taran was at the corner. He didn't think of looking up, especially when Taran and Ahsoka let go and landed on top of him.

"Yes, glad you fell for the puddle trick," said Taran, swiftly pinning Bane's hands behind his back using the water form the puddle to freeze around his wrists and ankles. Ahsoka and him picked up the bounty hunter and started to haul him towards the hangar.

"Nice plan Gears," said Ahsoka.

"Anytime Snips," said Taran.

"You two disgust me," said Bane. Taran responded by giving him a sharp kick to the side.

"That wasn't neccessary," said Ahsoka.

"I know, but he deserves something after what he did," he said.

"Taran, how many times do I have to say revenge isn't the answer?" said Ahsoka.

"Enough times to get the message, but if I wanted to really show revenge, he would have been dead by now, which he deserves," said Taran.

"Taran," said a "Please stop it" Ahsoka.

"Sorry, you know this is a touchy topic for me," said Taran.

"I know, just don't do something you'll hate yourself for later," said Ahsoka. Bane was listening to the whole conversation. He listened to their tone, their body language, and even their eye-to-eye contact.

_"If I wasn't mistaken, I'd say that---no, it's impossible. Or could it?"_he thought. Little did the Jedi know, Bane was busily putting two and two tpgether. It was only a matter of time before he figured out they were more than friends. In fact, it was very possible they were.

_"If so, then that means that Cyneran really cares about her more than his own life. Which means if she were taken out of the picture--,"_ thought the devious bounty hunter.

"What are you doing?" said Taran, looking straight at Bane. He had sensed that Bane was plotting something especially nasty, and very dangerous.

"Nothing. Aren't you suppose to be doing a job?" said Bane. Taran gave a low growl and went back to hauling Bane, more roughly. Bane was up to something, and whatever it was wasn't pleasant.

_"When she's gone, you'll no what real pain really means." _


	5. He Got Away, Again!

Taran and Ahsoka had lugged Bane all the way back to a corridor where Obi-Wan and Anakin had run up.

"Good work, you got him," said Anakin. He took Bane by his handcuffs and propped him ont his feet.

"You caused a lot of damage the last time we met," Anakin told Bane, coldly.

"Yes, but I was cut short of what I could really do Skywalker," he sneered back. Anakin glared at him coldly, and there was a moment Taran thought where he saw a bit of yellow in his eyes, but he must have imagining things. Rex and Cody ran down the hall towards them.

"Sir, all the clankers have been taken out," said Rex.

"Good job Rex. Casualties?" said Anakin.

"They're not good. The clankers took many a good soldier with them. Somewhere around one thousand," said Rex.

"Killed or wounded?"

"Both, but the majority are killed," said Rex. Anakin sighed.

"And the vats?"

"About five percent of them were destroyed. Luckily Commander Taran got there in time to prevent further destruction," said Rex.

"And nearly got killed for it," said Bane.

"Can I kill him a little bit?" Taran said to Ahsoka.

"Taran," said Ahsoka.

"Gosh, you never let me have fun," said Taran.

"Okay Bane, you're going to spill about your true purpose here," said Anakin, turning the bounty hunter towards him.

"I believe my intent is on the floor in that room," said Bane. Anakin eyed him coldly, trying to decide what to do next.

"Rex, Cody, take him to the ship brig," he said.

"Yes sir," said Rex and Cody. They dragged Bane by his handcuffs and lugged him down the hallway.

"Good job you two. You okay Taran?" said Anakin.

"Yes, I'm fine, just shaken," he said.

"It's all over now, just relax a bit," said Anakin. He went down the hall the same way Cody and Rex were lugging Bane. This left Taran and Ahsoka alone for a minute.

"Taran, did you see the same thing I saw with Skyguy?" said Ahsoka.

"Yes. For a minute he didn't look like himself, almost like something that wasn't him, but only looked like him," said Taran. (Wait till Episode III you two)

"I'm just glad you didn't kill him though. It must have took a lot of mind power to do that," she said.

"More like my brain fighting my body, kind of like puberty, only ten times stronger," said Taran. As they walked down the hall, she couldn't help but notice he seemed like he was ashamed of himself.

"Taran, what is it?" she asked.

"It's nothing," he said.

"Taran, I know you. What is it?" she asked again.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to let him get past you after all he's done to you?" he asked, looking even more melancholy.

"As a matter of fact, yes," she said.

"I just feel like not killing him was the right thing, but it felt wrong," he said.

"Taran..."

"Yes, I mean it. I don't why, but I feel that letting him live has started something with a dark, and ill purpose in the future," said Taran.

"Taran, I don't care. I'm just want you to know that if there is something that might happen, I'm glad you did the right thing," she said, gicing him a quick peck on his lips. He gave a small smile, and he and her walked down the hallway together.

* * *

(Bane POV)

"When I get out of these shackles, I'm gonna tear him to pieces," I thought. These two, the ones named Rex and Cody, were hauling me back to the hangar to put onboard the ship and take me to a jail cell on Coruscant, first class. Little did they know was that I was already formulating a plan in my head to break free. Thankfully they were taking me into the hangar, and if I could manage to get out of these ice blocks I'll be fine and home free.

"Glad to finally get this scumbag into a prison where he'll rot for the rest of his life," said Cody.

"I couldn't have agreed more Cody," said Rex. They lugged me back quite, uncomfortably. Once I was out, they would be third and fourth on my hit list. The first would be someone, very special in mind.

They lugged over into the hangar, where the one called Obi-Wan Kenobi looked me over.

"Well Bane, it looks like we caught you again, and this time you will NOT get away," he said. I just sneered at him and let him pass me by. He was fifth on my hit list. As they lugged me back, I noticed we were going by a clone pilot working on his starfighter. Normally I wouldn't have cared about him, but his gun was on his holster looking dead straight at me. If I could just inch my hands close enough, I could get it.

* * *

Bane timed his motions from Coady and Rex's dragging to inch his hand closer to the pistol. The ice cuffs were heavy, but not too heavy. His hand closed around the blaster and lifeted it up, doing it so lightly that the clone pilot didn't even know he had been robbed. Bane turned the blaster till he was aiming at the cuffs around his wrists. He shot at it two times, the ice melt from the heat of the blaster bolts and melting on impact. Bane turned it down quickly and did the same with the cuffs around his ankles. Cody and Rex had heard the blaster had gone, and had turned to stop Bane any further, but Bane took two shots at their knee caps, sending them down to the floor.

Getting up as fast as he could he made for the nearest unoccupied starfighter. Clones all around the hangar were shooting at him, and Obi-Wan gave chase, jumping over the ships and running as fast as he could.

Laser fire zipped past him as he tore for the ship. He hopped into the ARC-170 starfighter fresh off the assembly line. Activating the controls he turned the shields on, sending the blaster fire ricocheting away. Grabbing the controls he jerked the ship forward out of the hangar towards the sky. Obi-Wan, too far away to chase him, thew a metal disc that clung to the bottom of the ship. Sighing once again, he turned on his comlink.

"Yes, Anakin. We have a problem," he said.

"What is it Obi-Wan?" said Anakin.

"Bane's escaped," he said.

"Again?!"

"Again."

* * *

"How did he get away so fast?" Anakin demanded in a conference room.

"It appears he stole a blaster, melted his cuffs, shot Rex and Cody in the knee, hijacked a fighter, and escaped," said Obi-Wan.

"How are they?" said Anakin.

"They'll be fine, though Rex was using some very colorful words when I told him we'll find him," said Obi-Wan.

"And just how are we going to do that?" said Anakin.

"I managed to put a tracking device on the ship's hull right before he took off. It'll still working now," said Obi-Wan. "Tell the men we'll be packing up to leave in exactly one hour."

"Will do," said Anakin.

_**Sorry it's taken me this long. Whoever invented high school needs to be dragged into the street and shot to death. Also sorry this chapter is so short. I'll have the next one in one week. This I swear. **_


	6. Author's Note

**Sorry, I might not finish the promised chapter because of my Spring Break trip, emphasis on MIGHT. I will be getting you the chapter by this week though. This I REALLY swear. **


	7. Battle and Sadness

In no time the fleet had taken off, looking around for Cad Bane. Though the tracker was working perfectly, it's hard to pinpoint a ship in the middle of hyperspace, which is moving faster than the speed of light. A few times the signal went wild and they wound up in random systems. Another time they jumped out of hyperspace in the middle of a battle between Republic and Separatist ships. Not wanting to leave their fleet they entered the battle and the Republic won the fight.

Bane's signal kept popping up in random places, meaning he was trying to get them to lose his trail. One time he was in the Mandalore system, and the next he was in the Sluis Van sector.

"Is that ship ever going to run out of fuel or something?" said Ahsoka, tiring of being in hyperspace for so long.

"Who knows. The ARC-170's were meant to do long-range missions, which is why they can enter into hyperspace so quickly. For all we know, his fuel could probably be half full," said Taran.

"All we have to do is keep following him and wait for the time when he finally stops long enough for us to catch him," said Anakin.

"Sir, the signal had stopped moving. We have pinpointed it's location," said Admiral Yularen.

"Very good Admiral. Where is it?" said Obi-Wan.

"It's on the planet Hypori," said Wullfe. Everybody tensed. That was one of the most heavily guarded Separatist planets in the galaxy. If there was ever a place for a member of the Republic to commit suicide, all they had to go to was that planet. It would take thousands of men and ships to take it. So far their strength was 8 Venators, with about 1200 craft and a part of the Thirds Systems Army, with a detachment of the 501st. In all about 25,000 soldiers, but this planet was covered with thousands upon thousands of battle droids. They would need some help to get into this planet. They didn't have time to mobilize their entire force, which would bring them to 100,000, due to how fast they needed to travel.

"Admiral, are there any other fleets near us currently unengaged?" said Obi-Wan.

"Yes. General Windu's fleet is less than a parsec away actually," said Wullfe.

"Good. Contact him and tell him it's urgent. We can take the planet and also hopefully have Bane," said Anakin.

"I hope you're right about this master," said Ahsoka.

* * *

(_Planet Hypori_)

Bane's captured ARC-170 landed in an airstrip in a heavily guarded Separtist fortress. The fortress was made of durasteel and other metals to make it hard for enemy fire to destroy. Three walls surrounded it, and the citadel was bristling with anti-vehicle and anti-aircraft turrets. Bane departed from his ship and walked towards the citadel. Clearing through the entrances to the walls and going into the citadel, he walked in the corridors towards a large observatory room that looked out over the front half of the fortress. A hooded figure waited for him.

"You came later than I expected, bounty hunter," he said.

"Apologies Count. Cyneran kept me...busy," said Bane.

"In short he bested you and it was by luck that you escaped at all," said Dooku, taking his hood off to reveal his white hair, beard, and aging face.

"It will not happen again Count. I was still able to destroy some of the cloning vats," said Bane.

"But not all of them, as was promised. You'll be paid half for this," said Dooku. A look of distaste came upon Bane's face, but he had no choice but to accept it.

"So where are our Jedi friends now?" said Dooku.

"Probably looking all over the galaxy for me. I discovered the tracker on my ship when I landed. They're probably coming here now," said Bane.

"Good. While you were dare, did you by chance find any weaknesses with anyone important," said Dooku.

"As a matter of fact, I have," said Bane. He stepped right up to Bane and whispered in his ear. The Count listened intently, and then a smile formed.

"And this is true?" he asked.

"Yes Count; I saw it with my own eyes," said Bane. Dooku's smile got wider and he paced around the floor, deep in thought.

"There might be a way to redeem yourself bounty hunter. I need to leave for Cato Nemoidia in an hour and I need you to help in the defense of this base. In return, not only will I give you the amount promised, but I will pay you 50% of it as a bonus, and a new starship if I might add," said Dooku. At that note, Bane smiled maliciously, the promise of more money in his pocket sending a warm glow through him.

"And what do I need to do Count?" said Bane.

"You know his weakness. Exploit it, and finish them off," said Dooku.

* * *

(_Above the planet Hypori_)

They were all shocked to learn that a Separatist fleet had not come to defend the planet. They were worried that when they came out of hyperspace there would be a blockade of ships waiting for them. But no ships were there to greet them. Now they orbited the planet with their fleet, waiting for the right time to strike.

Windu was aboard their ship, the _Resolute_being the flagship of the fleet. They now had a grand total of 60,000 clone troopers with hundreds of vehicles ready to mount an attack. When Mace and Taran passed each other, Taran looked uneasily at him. Mace and Taran's relationship was always...rocky. The memory of when he was nine years old burned brighter in him when he was near him. Though the Jedi Master did not see him as a threat anymore, he was still uneasy about him, but at least it wasn't on the level of uneasiness that he gave to Anakin.

They all stood around a holoprojector of the surface of the planet.

"As you can see, the main base of the planet is this fortress spanning 26 clicks in any direction surrounded by a durasteel wall. It is heavily guarded, a garrison of 100,000 battle droids with support craft and heavy turret emplacements. Bunkers dot the walls woth heavy-repeating laser guns and anti-personal and vehicular motors. In short, this will be a hard battle to win," said Obi-Wan.

"What's our strategy then?" said Anakin.

"We need to send in air strikes to soften them up. While that's going on we'll land one click away and began our assault on the base. Master's Windu's forces will take the northern half, and we'll take the southern half. We'll link up at the citadel and begin our assault inside. We need to find Bane at all costs here, alive being the highest priority. If dead, it should only be in self-defence or if he's unwilling to surrender," said Obi-Wan.

"Also, we're on a time limit. We don't have enough men and materials to take the whole planet, so this battle will be under the alias of a raid. If we don't find Bane in six hours the other droid forces on the planet will be alerted and they will come in waves too strong for us to take out," he finished.

"Alright, find Bane and get him in six hours; that can't be too hard," said Anakin.

* * *

(Hangar)

"Rex, you okay?" said Taran.

"Never better kid. When I find that bounty hunter, I'm gonna give him a wound so permanent his children are gonna be born with it," said Rex.

"That's what I like to hear," said Taran as they loaded their gunship. They had jammed all radio communications with the planet and jamming their transmissions. But they knew the noise and sounds of the battle would draw the rest of the droid forces to their location, and then they would be in a fight to the death.

"Rex, are clones allowed to have relations with girls?" said Taran, curiously.

"Not that I know of, but I think we can once the fighting's done. Why?" said Rex.

"Just curious. I'm just wondering what it's going to be like for you when this is all over, if it ever is," said Taran.

"Well until that day then, I'm married to my gun. It's fast, relaiable, and it doesn't give you any back talk," said Rex.

"Okay Rex, you and your analogies," said Taran.

"How come you Jedi can't have any relations with females?" said Rex.

"Because we're not allowed to show any emotions of that kind because it can lead us down the dark side," said Taran.

"How would losing a loved one lead you down the dark side. That's the craziest thing I've ever heard of," said Rex.

"Let's say that you're married and have a good life. Then one day she gets killed by some unknown man, and at her funeral you vow to exact revenge on the one who took her life. Revenge leads to the dark side because of that," said Taran.

"Besides that. I mean how can you go to the "dark side" if she died of natural causes?" said Rex.

"Grief and sadness. They don't really you to it, but it's still frowned upon," said Taran.

"But we all have emotions. Even Jedi have to show it every now and again," said Rex. Taran thought about this for a moment.

"True, but Jedi tend to not admit that, despite popular belief," said Taran.

"Think of it this way. How would you feel if Ahsoka was killed?" said Rex.

"Rex, why would you ask that?" said a shocked Taran.

"I'm just seeing if you would apply your Jedi principles to it is all. If she did, would you either show no emotion or feel sadness?" said Rex. Taran couldn't even imagine something like that.

"I'd be.....devastated," said Taran.

"Because you do care about her more than just being a soldier," said Rex.

"You could say that," said Taran. Rex could have sworn, but he thought he might have seen Taran give a small blush. For whatever reason, he would probably never know.

* * *

"Snips, I need you on task today. This is probably more dangerous than anything you've done," said Anakin.

"So Teth, Rhen Var, Christophsis, Geonosis, and Feleucia don't count?" said Ahsoka.

"They count, but this time is a little worse. I need your mind to be clear and your heart in the right place, and I don't necessarily mean towards Taran," said Anakin. Ahsoka blushed slightly from that.

"I know Master. Him and me have an understanding of that," said Ahsoka. Anakin smiled, proud to see how much his Padawan learner had come along. She didn't know it, but he was in the same boat as her and Taran. The bells for the preparation went off.

"Everyone to your battle stations," said Wullfe over the loudspeaker.

* * *

The LAAT Taran was in with his master was speeding off towards it's destination over Hypori's landscape. They had swooped in about twenty clicks away from the landing zone and were swooping in fast. They would be there in ten minutes. As they passed the scenery, Taran saw the wreckage of a battle long ago. Acclamators were strewn on the ground, old armor from clone troopers, destroyed SBD's, and down craft. He knew this was where the Republic forces under Master Barrek where destroyed by a droid army, and that this was the same planet where Grievous had revealed himself to the galaxy for the first time. He had killed Master Barrek, Sha'a Gi, and another Jedi Knight named Tarr Seir. Aayla Secura, Shaak Ti, Ki-Adi Mundi, and K'Kruhk had survived with their lives, though it appeared that K'Kruhk had been killed there as well.

It brought on some sadness of how many men had fought and died here, as it did on thousands of planets on the ground or in the vastness of space. The war seemed to stretch on without no end. How many others would have to die?

"Something bothering you padawan?" said Obi-Wan. He felt the change in Taran's emotions probably as good as Ahsoka did.

"No, everything's fine," said Taran.

"Thirty seconds," said the pilot.

"Master, I don't know how to say this, but I'm..,"

"Scared," said Obi-Wan. Taran blinked when Obi-Wan had guessed his feeling.

"Yes. I've been scared before like on the Fire Nation island--,"

"Please don't remind of that."

"--but this time feels like something really, really bad is going to happen, and I can't figure out what," said Taran.

"This foresight may be a sign, but trust in the Force young one," said Obi-Wan.

"Ten seconds," yelled the pilot. The clones got their guns locked and loaded, ready to start the fight. The sound of bombings and laser fire filled their ears. They felt the gunship land on the ground, signalling to them it was zero hour. The green light flashed and everyone rushed out once the doors were open into the hot zone. The battle to capture the bounty hunter had begun.

* * *

As the gunships landed in their specific landing zones, the fortress was taking a pounding from the bombers and fighters of the fleet. Y-wings, V-wings, and V-19's unleashed their deadly cargo of proton torpedoes everywhere, destroying gun emplacements, droids, and obstacles that would slow down the clone army. They did take some heavy losses from the anti-aircraft turrets using pinpoint accuracy.

When they landed on the ground and charged towards the walls, the droids and turrets on the walls let loose on them. To Anakin, Obi-Wan, Rex, Cody, Taran, and Ahsoka, it was like Geonosis all over again. As clones ran towards the wall the droids opened fire with everything they had. Many clones were cut down before they even got halfway there. The clones that did reach the wall hugged the wall to make the smallest target possible. Taran, Ahsoka, and Rex had made it. Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Cody were still trying to get there.

"This seems very familiar," said Taran.

"What next commanders?" said Rex. It was weird for the three of them to have Rex call him them commander.

"Signal the other troops at the wall to use their ascension cables. We need a way for the others to get on the wall," said Ahsoka.

"Yes sir," said Rex. Since the wall was metal and he had very little training when it came to metalbending, Taran decided to Force jump up there.

"Most kills gets bragging rights?" said Taran.

"You read my mind," she said. They jumped up at the same time towards the walls.

Meanwhile on top of the wall two battle droids were firing down at the many clones and walkers that dotted the landcape.

"We got them now," said one of the them. At that moment, two figures rushed past them into the sky. They looked up to see two Jedi, both with green lightsabers coming down towards them.

"I knew I should of got transferred," said the droid before he and his buddie were cut in half down through the head. Taran and Ahsoka went back-to-back as they blocked all the laser fire the droids were directing on them at the wall. They sent it ricocheting back to the droids, some flying harmlessly past, others hitting their mark and downing the walking clankers. They created a distraction long enough for the other clones to get to the wall and fight their way through.

"Watch my back," said Ahsoka.

"How can I watch your back when I'm trying to protect my front?" said Taran. Ahsoka, though in the midst of heavy combat, smiled. Taran knew how to make anyone smile in the worst situations. At that moment, two squads of droidekas rolled towards them from both sides and began to open fire on them.

Taran acted quickly. Using the Force and his bending simultaneously, something he learned months ago, he caused three boulders from the ground to prop up in front of him and Ahsoka, shielding them from the blaster fire on the walls. Now switching to soully his Earthbending he sent them spiraling at an unprecedented speed that not only destroyed the droidekas on both sides, but many droids on the walls as well. This freed up many clones having some difficulties with the droids.

Taran and Ahsoka charged forward and began to hack and cut the droids to pieces, using their fabled "one attacks, one defends" strategy. Rex popped up behind them, taking out a battle droid that wasn't fully offline yet, and with his blasters he mowed down droids that Taran and Ahsoka hadn't gotten to. Other clones on the wall were slowly beating the droids and forcing them to retreat.

Anakin and Obi-Wan finally joined the fight and were helping the troops to cause the droids to rout.

"This is working a lot better than I thought," said Anakin.

"Don't forget, we stilll have another wall to get through, and then there's the citadel. We have only four hours and thirty minutes left," said Obi-Wan while they were in the middle of a combat scene.

"Relax Obi-Wan, we'll get there in plenty of time," said Anakin. He chopped an SBD droid in half and sent a battle droid tumbling down to the ground with a Force push.

Meanwhile, on the northern half of the wall, Master Windu's AT-TE's were scaling the wall and dishing total damage to the wall and the droids. His clones, nice and spiffy in their Phase II custom armor, were making the droids pay dearly for holding the walls. Mace was himself already on the ground heading towards the second wall, destroying any droids that were in the way of his troops and providing a way for them to get there. His purple lightsaber flashed in arcs over and over again for every droid, or droids, he killed.

"Master Kenobi and Skywalker, we're reaching the second wall. What's your progress?" he said into his comlink.

"Still mopping up some very stubborn droids on the wall, but we're nearly there. You may start your assault," said Obi-Wan.

"Will do," he said, getting off his comlink. "Forward men!"

* * *

"How are the defenses bounty hunter?" said Dooku via hologram projector.

"The first wall is taken, and the second wall is under attack, but their momentum is slowly grinding to a halt," said Bane.

"Good, by the time they get to the citadel the Jedi would have entered by then. Are you prepared?" said Dooku.

"Yes Count," said Bane, showing off his two famous blasters.

* * *

If anyone thought that the first wall was hard, the second one was even harder. Scratch that, impossibly hard. Heavy turrets took out armored craft like they were made of cardboard, and men were sent flying into the air from the sheer power of the blasts. Taran and Ahsoka were on the ground, and they saw firsthand the damage the defense turbolasers and anti-infantry turrets were doing.

"Taran, Ahsoka, we need to get rid of those turbolasers. It's our only chance," said Obi-Wan through his comlink.

"Acknowledged master," said Taran. He raised a block of pure earth from the ground at there feet and bent it in the middle to make a slanted, smooth, very strong ram looking object.

"Stay under this," he said. He pushed them forward with his hands. Turret blasts hit their shield, but it didn't break it, only sending the vibrations from the blast through their bodies. She saw that they were very close to the second wall.

"Which move do you want to use?" she said as they drew ever closer.

"How about the Flying Sarlaac?" said Taran.

"You're getting good at reading my mind," she said. They both smiled, and Taran used the ground to catapult her up towards the top of the wall. She flew into the air and landed gracefully on top, immediately cutting through the droids like a wheat harvest. Taran followed after, jumping on top of a turbolaser. He defected the bolts of high energy plasma back to the droids, and his action also caught the attention of some droids operating a turbolaser.

"Jedi? Fire!" said the droid commander. The turbolaser turned to the side and shot at Taran. He jumped out of the way as the bolts hit the turbolaser he was on and turned into a superheated scrap of metal. Taran ran forward, cutting down droids and deflecting blaster rounds. His lightsaber cut through the droid crew that had tried to kill him with their turbolaser, sending their pieces clattering to the ground, the sparks fizzing from them. He threw a thermal detonator onto the turbolaser, but not before aiming it at a turbolaser giving Mace's tanks a hard time. He fired it and the turbolaser he was aiming at exploded. He and Ahsoka ran off in time for the turbolaser they were on to explode as well.

"I you know, this could be a nice job for us," she said.

"Now who's reading who's mind?" said Taran. As they fought their way through the second wall a crab droid hopped onto the wall and shot it's multi-blaster armament at them, pinning them down.

Anakin and Obi-Wan saw they were in trouble and rushed towards the wall, dodging blaster fire and other ordinance. They reached the wall, but if they jumped up on top of it they would be blasted to shreds by the droids on the wall firing down at them.

"Rex, Cody, give us some covering fire!" said Anakin. Cody and Rex, Cody's DC-15 rifle and Rex's pistols, fired on the droids, knocking many of them out. An AT-TE's swivel cannon fired a round at the top of the wall and tore off a chunk of the wall, destroying all the droids in that particular section.

Anakin and Obi-Wan Force jumped up and landed on the wall, taking out three droids, Anakin getting two in one swing. As they ran forward to combat the spider droid, Rex and Cody were leading their men up the wall using the ascension cables on their guns. They fired up at the droids as they scaled the wall, killing many droids. Some clone troopers were shot down as well from the return fire.

"Come on men. Keep going," Cody shouted to the men. He and Rex reached the top and shot many a droid. Cody charged to an SBD, threw his gun at it, kicked it with a well placed kick that would have hurt any other trooper, got the gun back, and shot the droid to kingdom come. Rex took out two battle droids from behind him without even looking.

"Rex, get your men and have the start taking out those gun emplacements," said Cody. Rex nodded and redirected his men towards the turrets. Cody's men fought their way towards them, despite an entire squad of SBD'd blocking their advance.

Anakin and Obi-Wan snuck up behind the crab droid and cut it's back legs off. The droid fell backwards, giving Taran and Ahsoka time to run forward and jump in the crab droid, stabbing their lightsabers into it's central brain control, frying the circuits and making the droid useless. As they were preparing to keep fighting a barrage of gunfire from the citadel pinned them behind the wreckage of the crab droid.

"Admiral, get some Y-wings down here and have them soften up the citadel," said Anakin.

"Yes sir, I have two squadrons coming right now," said Wullfe. From out of the sky the two squadrons of Y-wings unleashed their deadly cargo of proton bombs and proton torpedoes at the citadel. Though taking out many droids the citadel looked as if it had only been lightly scratched. The gunners on the bombers fired their swivel guns at any other droids they saw before the pilots came back for another pass.

Up ahead they spotted Master Windu's forces gradually taking their part of the wall.

"We need to get into the citadel now," said Obi-Wan.

"But what about the men?" said Ahsoka.

"Master Windu and Cody can handle mopping up the rest. We need to get in there and find Bane to end this," said Obi-Wan. They jumped down for the wall and ran towards the entrances, slicing any droid in ther path. Any battle droid or SBD that loomed ahead was cut down in less than a heartbeat. Taran sent a gust of air that sent a squad of droidekas into the side of the citadel, smashing them into pieces. They fought their way through until they got into the citadel, running through the metal halls of the base.

"Taran, you and Ahsoka go down the hall on the left. Me and Anakin will take the right," said Obi-Wan. They ran down their designated hallway, not knowing the danger ahead.

* * *

Taran and Ahsoka dashed through the halls of the citadel, their lightsabers ready for any threat that loomed ahead. Surprisingly, there were no droids in the halls at the time. They all must have been outside fighting. Taran and her continued on, always ready for whatever showed up. They had run for ten straight minutes of sprint running before exhaustion aught up with them. Not even Jedi are immune to that.

They stopped at an intersection to catch their breaths for a moment.

"You see anything master?" said Ahsoka through her comlink.

"No. This hallway lead to a dead end. We'll meet up with you," said Anakin. Turning off her comlink she and him used their Force senses to feel if there was anything wrong. They could sense a presence, but they couldn't find it or know who it was. Taran sensed it was Bane's presence, tensing up if the bounty hunter should come out of nowhere.

Bane was watching them from the corner of an adjacent hallway. He needed only Taran to be in his line of sight. He knew what would happen when he was firmly fixed. Laughing maliciously to himself, he turned on a thermal detonator he had to get it cooking and jumped into the hallway to throw it at Taran. Taran barely even had time to see the bomb hurled at him.

"Taran!" yelled Ahsoka. She pushed him out of the way as the thermal det went off, causing a massive explosion in the hallway. Taran lost his senses as he felt the concussive energy of the blast. He was thrown to the wall, blacking out temporarily.

When he awoke, he felt like his head throbbing and some bruises on his arms. His fingers had small cuts all around them and a part of his clothes were singed. His face had a medium size cut on it, but besides that he was okay. He crawled forward, his eyes searching through the smoke and dust in the hallway. He felt as if his eyesight would give out at any minute, but he crawled forward with whatever strength he had left. He had to find Ahsoka.

His hand brushed past something that felt suspiciously like skin. He looked down to see that Ahsoka was lying motionless on the floor.

"Soka," he said quietly to himself, urgency in his voice. He knelt down and pulled her close to him, her body covered with bruises and burnt marks. He lifted her up and pulled her close to his chest. Her eyes were closed and she wasn't breathing. Taran checked her pulse line, not a heartbeat was there. Taran knew what had happened. She had pushed them out of the way and took much of the blast from the detonator while he had only taken a little bit. She had did this to save him, and now she had paid for it.

"Ahsoka, please wake up," he said silently, his voice cracking from the amount of sadness. She did not stir, nor did he feel her heart beating. He didn't want to believe it, but she was gone. He placed his head to her chest one last time to hear her heart beating. It was quiet. His eyes filled with tears as he hugged her close to him as much as possible and cried silently, his tears flowing down and splashing onto her. She was gone.


	8. Revenge

He placed her motionless body back on the floor. He didn't want to believe it, but he had no other choice to. She was dead saving him, yet he felt like he was the one who lost his life. He felt sadness over come him as looked at her body, his best friend, girlfriend, and his love gone forever. His hands shook as he looked down on her. He felt all his emotions seeming to go through their own little rush.

He heard footsteps behind him, but he didn't care. His eyes closed shut as his tears left past his eyelids. Everything was over for him too.

Anakin and Obi-Wan had heard the explosion and had rushed to the hall faster than normal. They saw the hallway they were coming to filled with a dust cloud. Advancing cautiously forward. They saw two figures up ahead and they sensed that one was Taran, but strangely the other one didn't give off a life reading. Anakin's heart sunk as he stepped closer. He felt Taran's emotions and looked down at his padawan's body, lying still as death on the floor.

He couldn't believe it either. His padawan was gone, gone before he even had the chance to train her to her full potential. His Snips was gone. Obi-Wan was also feeling the same as Anakin. Although he wasn't Ahsoka's mentor he had been rather close to her, almost seeing her as a daughter. Anakin knelt beside her, cradling her body to his as his sobs echoed through the hallway. Obi-Wan knelt down to Taran, his hand on his shoulder.

"Taran," he said quietly. He saw Tarans' hand clench and his tattoos start to glow with the familiar blue-white light. Anakin's stops long enough o say Taran get him, his eyes still closed, opening them to reveal his eyes matching his tattoos. He walked forward down a hallway before running at full blast down it. Anakin and Obi-Wan watched as he left, not knowing what was going to happen.

* * *

Taran ran down the hallway, not sure of where to go, but letting his instincts guide him there. He was fully in the Avatar state, but he had all the control he needed.

As he dashed down the hall he came to a shielded door. He began to build up a massive fireball in his hands, charged at the door, and punched the door holding the flame. The door instantly melted. He ran forward through the twisted mess and came to another door, except this one was open, and voices were coming from it. He swithced out of the Avatar state to keep his stealth. He turned a corner to see Bane talking to a hologram of Count Dooku.

"Count, not only have I taken out Skywalker's apprentice, but Cyneran as well," said Bane. Taran's hand clenched when he spoke those words.

"Good. You may not be able to handle Kenobi, Skywalker, and Windu, but the news of the deaths of those two meddlesome Jedi apprentices is good enough. Your credits are waiting for you on Korriban," said Dooku. The hologram faded out, leaving Bane alone. He turned around to see Taran standing ten feet away from him, looking at him as if he were about to rip him apart with his bare hands.

"You! How did you..."

"You killed her," Taran said, his voice as cold as ice. He walked towards Bane, lightsaber drawn. Bane started to step back, his blaster pistols in his hands. He wasn't expecting Taran to be looking like this. His eyes were glowing bright-green: malice, anger, and pure hatred in them. For the first time in his entire life, Bane was fearful for his life.

"Now Cyneran..."

"You took my parents away, you took some of my friends away, and now you took her away. You're not getting out of this alive Bane, not again," said Taran. His eyes went white-blue from entering the Avatar state, and he charged. Bane fired his pistols as fast as he could, but Taran deflected each shot whilst still running straight for him. Bane retreated back, walking and shooting, then full out running and shooting.

Taran was not himself when he was chasing/fighting Bane. He was now something that was hidden away whenever he even thought of Bane. Did he have any doubts? Anything that was nagging at the back of his head that this wasn't right? He ignored them fully, because now he was on a mission that was started a year ago, and he was going to finish it.

Bane was running now, shooting back every now and again. He was in a hurry to get away from Taran now, because now he knew, like the other times, that Taran wasn't holding back. His life was on the line, this time for real, and he feared he might not come back.

Taran launched a ball of fire at him as he ran. Bane dodged it by lunging a bit to the left when he was running. The fireball caught a part of his sleeve and set it on fire. He tore it off and continued running. Taran switched back out of the Avatar state and gave chase even more. Using a part of his Airbending, he was slowly catching up with Bane.

Bane turned a corner and saw that there was three battle droids and an SBD commander with a rocket-proppelled grenade launcher attached to it's arm.

"Take him out!" he yelled to them. He past by them and the droids opened fire. The SBD commander fired off his grenade and it exploded in front of Taran, shrouding that part of the hallway in smoke. The battle droids stopped firing.

"Good shot commander," said one of the battle droids. It wasn't a second after he congratulated them that a bar of green light came at them like a boomerang. It sliced all three of the battle droids heads off, sending the rest of their bodies sputtering down. Taran jumped onto the wall, kicking off from it as the SBD shot another grenade. It exploded on the wall, the concussion seeming to not have an effect on Taran. He came down, slicing the SBD down the middle, then sliced it half two more times from the upper torso, making six sputtering pieces of metal on the floor.

He kept running for Bane, seeking to not lose his prey so easily. Bane saw that the droids had done nothing but slow him down for a few seconds, and that now he was hot on his trail. But he had one more trick up his sleeves. He pressed a button on his gauntlet, it continually beeping for some reason unknown to Taran. Something unpleasant was going to happen, he knew it.

Still he kept chasing Bane. They came into a large room that was the power supply of the entire citadel. To his surprise, Bane stopped, smiling maliciously at him. Taran knew something was definitely up, but he was ready for it.

"Cyneran, I admit that my plan to kill the both of you was...flawed, but at least I killed her fast and not slowly. This is my gift to you," said Bane. Taran shuddered with pure rage. He wanted to gut Bane like a fish, and he would do it slowly and painfully.

"Now witness," Bane continued, "a gift the good General Grievous gave me as a present," said Bane. From off the top of the room, three man-sized metallic shapes came down, their eyes gloing red, and their electrostaffs flickering with tendrils of purple electricity.

"I'm sure you've met them, but these three are some of the most elite in the general's bodyguard. I'm sure they'll keep you busy," said Bane. The first Magnagiard charged and swung it's electrostaff, but Taran merely sidestepped and swung his lightsaber behind him in an arc, taking off the head, and Force pushed the body into the motors of the turbines feeding power to the fortress, instantly turning the body into scrap.

That whole time Taran didn't take his eyes off of Bane for even a moment.

"Not even for a minute" he said in a voice that wasn't his, but twisted and evil. He didn't even let the Magnaguards get the chance to charge, because he charged towards them. This was going to be a messy fight.

* * *

In the hallway where Bane had set off the thermal det, Anakin was holding his padawan body, his tears cascading down his cheeks. Obi-Wan was kneeling nearby, his hand on her head.

"Anakin, we need to help Taran," he said slowly to him. Anakin did not answer, his eyes still on her.

"If only I'd been there, I could have stopped it from happening," said Anakin. He sniffled, his hand going to her forehead.

"I'm sorry Soka, I wasn't fast enough," said Anakin. He bowed his head, his mind blank, melancholy thoughts swimming through every crevice. At that moment, as if by some miracle, he felt her heart start up again, and one of her fingers twitch.

Her eyes fluttered open and she coughed a bit. Anakin and Obi-Wan couldn't believe it. She was alive!

"Master," she said weakly. Anakin hugged her closer to him, his heart filling with joy as he felt life surge back through her body.

"Don't ever scare me like that again Snips," he said, his voice somewhere between laughter and happiness. She smiled weakly, and coughed again.

"Where's Taran?" she asked. Obi-Wan told her what happened when Taran thought she was dead. Her eyes snapped to full attention. She tried to sit up, but her hand immediately shot to her torso, pain screaming through her body.

"Master Kenobi, you have to go and stop him," she said quickly.

"I know, I'm on my way there," said Obi-Wan.

"No, I mean you have to stop him before he kills Bane," she said urgently.

"What do you mean?" said Anakin. Wasn't the whole mission to either capture or kill Bane?

"He's angry and rageful right now, I can feel it. He's not fighting for self-defence, he's fighting to kill," she said.

"I need to get there now," said Obi-Wan.

"Wait. Master, go with him," said Ahsoka.

"Ahsoka, I can't leave you like this," said Anakin.

"Master, you need to go," said Ahsoka. At that moment Rex came in, running through the hall, his blaster ready for any droids that may have been lurking in the hall.

"Sir, the droids are nearly finished outside," he said.

"Rex, take Ahsoka to a medical station pronto," said Anakin. "Me and Obi-Wan are going after Bane."

"Yes sir," said Rex. He helped her to her feet and helped to hold her up as he walked forward.

"Master, please stop him before he makes a terrible mistake," she said. Anakin nodded, and he and Obi-Wan took off, knowing what would happen if they were too late to stop Taran.

* * *

The last two Magnaguards lay in pieces at Taran's feet. He had defeated them in less than one minute. His rage, anger, and hatred had intensified, and he wanted to kill Bane now more than ever.

Bane had watched the whole thing, and once the last Magnaguard was defeated he ran off, now more than determined to get out while he still could. In a part of the fortress was a starship fueled and ready to take him off planet. He needed to get there before Taran caught him.

There was no obstacles left to stop Taran, the only one being Bane. Bane hit a button on the wall and blast doors closed between him and Taran. He knew this would buy him some time before Taran could get to him. It was all the time he needed.

Taran stopped at the blast door. He could cut through it, but by the time he did Bane would be long gone. As he thought of what to do, he saw a hallway adjacent to his that led to somewhere else. He took a wild guess and went down it, his feet going as fast as he humanly could. More than anything else, he was going to stop him.

* * *

Bane looked behind his back to see if anyone was chasing him. Luckily, he saw that he had lost Taran and continued running. The secret hangar was just a few hallways down, and he was not about to slow up now just because he thought he had stopped Cyneran. He grinned to himself though at the thought of giving Cyneran the slip so many times before.

He ran down the hallways until he could see the door up ahead. Getting there he punched in the secret code only he and Count Dooku knew and watched the doors open up fully. As he walked he saw the starfighter in tatters, destroyed and useless.

Inspecting the damage Bane saw that something had gashed through it and did it with something that used a lot of heat. Out of nowhere a fist slammed into his face, knocking him back stumbling until he hit the wall. He tasted his blood in his mouth and spit it out, looking up to see who hit him. To his horror, he saw it was Taran.

"How did you.."

"I made a back door," said Taran, his voice devoid of emotion, but something dark and twisted hidden in the words. Bane tried to get out his pistols, but Taran aimed a kick into his torso and sliced the weapons in half. He then sent a gust of wind that blew Bane back into the wall.

"By the time I'm done with you, you're going to wish you were dead," said Taran.

* * *

"He came through here," said Obi-Wan. They were in the power room and saw the mess of Magnaguard remains strewn all over the floor.

"He sure did do a number on the droids," said Anakin. They ran for the exit and down the hall.

Obi-Wan was worried sick. For all he knew Taran could be dying, or worse. He heeded Ahsoka'a warning, and he was hoping that he wasn't about to do what he thought he would.

"Obi-Wan, Taran wouldn't do it," said Anakin. He thought that if he could get over what the Tusken raiders did to his mother, then Taran could to. But then he remembered a chilling fact: he had killed the entire camp full of Tusken Raiders, including the women and the children. Besides, Bane was completely evil while the Tusken Raiders were just living their everyday life.

"I know, but there's no telling. He thinks Ahsoka's dead, and that will fuel his anger. I don't know why he's acting like this. Sure he and Ahsoka were close, but it's almost like they...," he said, but he trailed off as he thought about it for a moment.

"Obi-Wan?" said Anakin.

"Anakin, you don't think that they were...more than friends do you?" said Obi-Wan.

His first impulse was to lie and say there wasn't, but if there was one thing he couldn't do and that was to lie to him. His relationship, and marriage, to Padme was withholding information, not the same as lying. He wanted to keep it a secret, but he couldn't lie to Obi-Wan, not when a life was on the line.

After a long pause he finally spoke. "Yes, they were," said Anakin, though he wasn't proud to say it. Obi-Wan's eyes widened. Now who knew the true reason why Taran was taking this out on Bane, and since he thought that Bane had killed her.....

Obi-Wan raced down the hall, urgency fueling him. Anakin followed closely behind him, but wasn't going as fast as he was.

* * *

Bane felt himself get hit in the chest again with a gust of air straight from Taran. He hit the wall in another hallway and his body thudded onto the wall, sliding down to the ground. He got up and pressed a button on his gauntlets that produced twin knife blades from his wrists.

Taran looked like he couldn't give a care in the world what Bane pulled out on him.

"Don't think that just because you suffered a loss means I'm going easier on you!" he snarled. Taran's expression remained blank and he swung his lightsaber towards Bane. Bane deflected each strike from Taran and he dished out some of his own as well. One of his blades deflected a glance from the lightsaber and the other slashed across the top of Taran's arm. Taran acted like the wound didn't even bother him and kept attacking.

Bane kept falling back as Taran used every maneuver and tactic he learned in the Jedi Temple, and Obi-Wan and Anakin for that matter. His attacks were more powerful due to his anger and other emotions the Jedi Order condoned, but that seemed like a trifle to him now.

Taran cut the wall near Bane, sending sparks into the bounty hunter's eyes, and then Taran sliced off both of his gauntlets and launched a fireball mixed with air straight at Bane. Bane was thrown back again to the wall on the opposite side, his entire front clothes torn, tattered, and burned. His skin was also very bruised, and he sported a knot on his forehead.

Taran still came towards him, deactivating his lightsaber and picking Bane up by his collar.

"This is for my parents," he said. His punch accentuated in the halls with a thud.

"This is for killing many friends of mine," said Taran, punching him again.

"And this is for Ahsoka!" he yelled at him. his time his punch was mixed with air and he hit Bane so hard his famous hat flew off and he crashed into the wall with such force it was a miracle his body wasn't broken.

Bane got up very slowly, his mouth green with his blood and bruises all over his face. Taran still looked at him, malice in his eyes. Bane tried one last trick. He had one last theral detonator in his clothes, if he could get to it then he might be able to stop this and kill Taran once and for all.

His hand found it and he tried to throw, but Taran lunged forward so fast it was like a starfighter engine was strapped to him. He took the thermal detonator from his hand and melted it, while also using his other arm to thrown Bane over him. Bane flew overhead him and landed on the ground. Taran had enough of this. He grabbed Bane by the throat and dragged him to the end of the hallway, where a solid piece of the wall signaled the end of that hallway.

He propped Bane up on the wall, the bounty hunter in a sitting position, and ignited his lightsaber. He held the blade to Bane's throat, savoring the death that was abou to come.

Bane saw his doom was near, but he just looked defiant, as if welcoming it.

"Now I can finally get rid of you," said Taran. He raised his lightsaber and prepared to deliver the final blow to Bane.

"Taran, stop!" yelled Obi-Wan from behind him. He and Anakin had arrived, and watched in horror at what they saw in front of them.

"Taran, this isn't the way to do this," said Anakin.

Taran was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He wanted to kill Bane badly for killing Ahsoka, but he couldn't kill him in anger and rage, for that led straight to the dark side.

"Taran, I'm begging you. If you do this you will become something twisted and evil," said Obi-Wan.

"Come on Cyneran, get it over with," said Bane. Taran had no idea what to do. His lightsaber was posed, ready to strike, but he couldn't bring himself to do it, not anymore.

"Taran, you can't kill him. He needs to be put in prison for what he's done," said Anakin. Even Anakin thought this was stange for him to say.

"Cyneran, you don't have the stomach for this. You're weak, and that's what you'll always be," said Bane. Taran's anger came back, and Obi-Wan and Anakin felt it. His hands trembled as he wanted no more than to kill the bounty hunter who had taken so much from him.

"It's not the Jedi way Taran. As your master, and your friend, don't do it," said Obi-Wan. This brought some more mercy and compassion from Taran.

"Well Cyneran, what's it going to be. Will you sit back and let Tano's death go unavenged, or will you take my life for retribution? Make your choice," said Bane, his famous sneer back. Taran slowly raised his lightsaber higher, his eyes filled with every emotion in his body.

"Finish it," said Bane. Taran swung his lightsaber, coming down with all the force he had. Obi-Wan and Anakin looked on in shocked silence, not believing what they just witnessed.


	9. Resolve

Taran was standing over Bane, his lightsaber still in hand. Bane was not moving, and Anakin and Obi-Wan were looking at what they saw. A huge gash was on the wall, stopping exactly above Bane's head. Taran's eyes were on the verge of tears, his face torn between extreme rage and extreme sadness.

"I knew you couldn't do it. You're a weak, pathetic..." But Bane never got to finish his sentence when Taran's fist hit him so hard he blacked out in an instant. Obi-Wan walked forward slowly towards Taran.

Taran felt dizzy, very dizzy. He wanted to throw up; do something to make the pain go away. He felt nothing as he went to the side of a wall and slumped down on it, his face in his hands as tears leaked out. Obi-Wan and Anakin went to comfort him. For him to not kill Bane, after all the things the bounty hunter did to him, took a lot of guts, but it would make him feel like he couldn't handle killing a living being who had done so much wrong.

"You did a very brave thing Taran," said Obi-Wan. He was proud that Taran did the right thing, even though Taran was thinking the complete opposite.

"I don't feel like it. I feel miserable," Taran said miserably.

"By not killing Bane in cold blood is something that many Jedi could never accomplish," said Anakin.

"What's the point? I couldn't even save her," said Taran.

"Taran, she's not dead," said Obi-Wan.

"What?" said Taran, his hands off of his face and his eyes on his master.

"I don't know how, but she's not dead. In fact she's recovering right now," said Obi-Wan.

"She is?" said Taran, not believing that a miracle could have happened.

"I'll get Bane. In case you guys hadn't noticed, we have less than ten minutes to get out of here before the rest of the Separatists get here," said Anakin. Anakin went over and picked up Bane's body, using his shoulders to hoist the unconscious bounty hunter.

"Cody, have a gunship ready by the entrance. We've got Bane," said Obi-Wan.

"Copy sir, a gunship is heading their now," said Cody. They raced towards the entrance, Anakin having to run with Bane on his shoulders. They ran past the wreckage of the Magnaguards, the droids, and past the spot where Taran thought he would lose Ahsoka forever.

At the entrance Cody was waiting in the gunship.

"Hurry sir, the clankers are approaching fast," he said. They got into the gunship as fast as they could, the doors closing sut behind them.

"Have the charges been rigged?" said Cody.

"Yes sir," said Cody.

"Charges?" said Taran and Anakin.

"We can't just let the Separatists come back and take the fortress, then it would be back in working order. We need to destroy it," said Obi-Wan. The gunship hovered above the ground for a few seconds and then finally took off. Not a minute too soon for the first of the droid forces of the planet got there, firing up at the gunship as it took off, but it was out of range in a short amount of time.

Cody pressed a button and in less than a nanosecond the charges went off. The entire fortress was engulfed in a giant mushroom cloud of fire and smoke rising half a mile high. The droids that just arrived were vaporized by the sheer intensity of the blast. The shockwave was so powerful that the gunship banked to the right from the intensity of the blast. Everyone held onto the safety straps, but Bane's body hit the side door. Luckily it was closed shut.

* * *

(_Resolute_)

Ahsoka opened her eyes from her sleep to see Taran sitting down next to her, his head slumped onto her bed, deep in sleep.

_"He must have stayed here all day,"_she thought to herself. When she had gotten to the medical bay the medic had put her to sleep to heal. When she awoke she fel completely fresh and agile. She wondered how she was able to feel like her old self again, but then realized the pallet of water near her. That meant Taran had healed her with Waterbending while she slept.

She pushed a stray dread from out of his face. Her eyes traveled over his face, taking in his outlines and his features. Some hair was starting to bud on his chin, but besides that he looked like the Taran she always knew, and loved.

At that moment Taran stirred. Obviously a dream he was having was making him rest uneasily. She wondered if it had to do with her.

As she watched he began stirring more, than sweat started to from in beads on his forehead as he started panting as if running. She saw the dream was turning into a nightmare and shook him. His eyes snapped open after she shook him for ten seconds. His eyes registered her for a moment.

"Is this a dream?" he said quietly. She shook her head. She got off the bed to stand in front of him. His hand went to her cheek, rubbing it softly to reassure himself that this was no longer a dream, but reality. His eyes widened in realization and he hugged her for all his worth. She gave it back just as strong.

"I thought I lost you," he said to her.

"I'm never leaving you," she said to him. She let go of him just enough for her to kiss him full on his lips, letting him know she meant what she said. He returned it back, his arms around her waist bringing her in closer to him. Her arms snaked around his neck, not wanting him to let go, ever.

They ended it and gazed at each other, unspoken words flowing between them until Ahsoka broke the silence.

"What happened to Bane?" she said.

"Took care of him," said Taran.

"You didn't..," she said, but he pressed his pointer to her lips to silence her.

"I hit him upside his head and knocked him out. He's in the ship's brig awaiting to be taken to a top, high security prison. If we're lucky we won't see him again for a very long time," said Taran. Ahsoka's mouth broke into a smile.

"So you didn't...,"

"No. I learned it wasn't right, and I should only kill in self-defense," said Taran. Ahsoka couldn't have been any happier. He had finally conquered that dark feeling in him when he was near Bane.

She kissed him again, this time more deeply than the last time. Her tongue accidentally brushed past his lips, but he responded and his tongue massaged hers while they still joined in the kiss. Her hands went down to his hips as his traveled down to the sides of her chest. He stepped forward a bit and she sat down onto the bed. He settled in the space between her legs and they continued their passionate kiss.

She layed down and beckoned him to come down with her. He obliged, kissing around her neck to excite her. Her hands traveled along his back as his hands played around her exposed belly. As he kissed her neck around her most sensitive spots tenderly he felt her slide his top robes away, exposing more of his shoulders until finally his entire top half was exposed.

She saw that his pecs were looking more toned, and his abs were also forming up as well. A few more months in training and they would be fully developed in no time. Her hands traveled down the lines of his figure, her fingernails lightly brushing his scar that went down the left side of his abdomen region. This sent some kind of inner pleasure running through him that he wanted more of her.

He fiercely kissed her again, his hands playing around with both her breasts in his palms. He lightly squeezed on them, making her yelp in surprise, but replacing them with moans into his mouth. His hands toyed with them, using his thumbs to play through to the nipples underneath her chest bind fabric. Her hands traveled up and down his sides, slightly tickling him, but otherwise making it soothing and pleasurable.

His hands unknowingly found the strap behind her chest and accidentally unlatched it. Her breasts did not show, but they almost did. She blushed as he gazed down at her, his hands slowly traveling around her form as if an artist were examining his painting. However, a thought he had pushed aside came back with full force.

"We can't do this, not yet," he said to her softly. Even though her hormones were screaming for them to do this, in her mind she knew now wasn't the time. The same thing was going through his mind. He lay down next to her, his hand traveling over her top form.

"Obi-Wan knows," said Taran.

"How?" she asked.

"He found out somehow. Anakin told me," said Taran.

"And what did he say to you about it?" said Ahsoka.

"Not much, although I think he's not happy about it," said Taran.

"Did he lecture you about it?" she asked.

"No. I think he doesn't want this to happen anymore," he said sadly. Her hand went up to his cheek.

"Do you want it to?" she asked softly. He shook his head.

"I'd rather get kicked out of the Jedi Order then stay away from you," he said, his hand lacing with hers. Her heart swelled when he said this. He always said his greatest ambition was to become a great Jedi Knight remembered in the Order for all time, but here he was saying that the most important thing in his life was her, and he would throw away his life for her.

She kissed him again lightly.

"I think we should talk to him, together," she said.

"When?" said Taran.

"Right now," she said.

"Okay, but you might want to get that on all the way," he said, indicating her chest strap. She blushed slightly and fixed it back on as he got on the top part of his robes. Once they were full dressed they went out, hand-in-hand.

* * *

Obi-Wan was in his quarters meditating. He was deciding on what to do about Taran and Ahsoka's secret relationship. If it had gone on for months then there was almost nothing he would do. He knew Taran well. If Taran set his mind and heart to a task, he would never leave it until it was completed. If he and Ahsoka were in love, then he knew Taran would go to the ends of the galaxy to stay with her. It reminded him of the way he felt about Siri, and Satine for that matter. He and Siri had a moment where they would throw away their lives to be together, but that wasn't now. He saw that exact same thing happening now with Taran and Ahsoka, almost mirroring his own. He no idea what to do.

A knock on the door interrupted his train of thought.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"It's Taran, master," said Taran. Obi-Wan sighed. He was hoping this moment wouldn't come.

"Come in," said Obi-Wan. Taran opened the door, Ahsoka right behind him. Obi-Wan noticed he was holding her hand. This would just make things harder. Taran and Ahsoka sat in two chairs opposite Obi-Wan.

It took a long minute for Obi-Wan to answer.

"So I take it you two still want this to go on?" he said. Taran and her nodded. Obi-Wan gave another sigh.

"You know what would happen if the Order found out about this," said Obi-Wan.

"We know, but I learned that sometimes you have to live the life you want, not what someone predetermines for you," said Taran.

_"He learned too much from me and Anakin,"_ Obi-Wan thought.

"Taran, it's really not a good idea...,"

"Master, I'm not going to end this just because a group of people who were slightly paranoid about the dark side said this was wrong. If I must, I can leave the Order right now," said Taran. Obi-Wan looked into his eyes and saw he was dead certain about this. There was only one thing he could say at the moment.

"Okay, I can see this means a lot to you. I don't have too much of a problem with it, but make sure that this doesn't happen again," said Obi-Wan. Taran smiled, as well as Ahsoka. Now they knew that though two people knew their secret, they wouldn't mind, as long as one of them didn't lose it. For once, that was all he needed to here.


	10. Epilogue

_**I hope that Bounty Hunter's Gambit was very enjoyable for the readers. The next story will be up in a week or two, and we'll see more on the TaranXAhsoka relationship, as well as some more rip-roaring action. Stay tuned loyal readers. Also watch the Clone Wars on Cartoon Network. Can't wait to see when Boba Fett gets in there. In fact, I think might have given away a character from the next story. My bad. **_


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